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Just came home from watching Swan Lake.
One word to describe the performance.
SUPERB.
The sets were excellent and ingenious. They actually stuck 2 swans bottom to bottom in order to create the illusion of a reflection as it drifted across the lake.
the costumes were unbelieveable. So detailed with all the trappings. It was an amazing experience.
the dancing was excellent. No shitty extras like in La Bayadere. All fantastic, attractive ( the guys were all in spandex. hahaa...white no less....heehehee) and the music, what can I say....Tchaikovsky, you rule.
It was music that resonated to the depths of your soul and brought u through the emotional waves that pervade the entire ballet. It was wonderful.
Storyline:
"Swan Lake tells the story of young Prince Siegfried, who falls in love with the Swan Queen Odette, a woman transformed into a bird by an evil sorcerer. Odette explains that she is destined to remain a strange composite creature, until rescued by a man's undying love.
Enthralled by her beauty, The Prince pledges his eternal love - but later, at a party in honor of his 21st birthday, he is tricked by the sorcerer, von Rothbart, into declaring his love for Odile, an evil twin of Odette. Realizing his inadvertent betrayal, the Prince rushes back to the lake. There, he battles Von Rothbart, and destroys his power. The lovers are then reunited. "
Technical demands:
"Swan Lake is one of the more technically demanding ballets, due in part to a remarkable Italian ballerina by the name of Pierina Legnani. When Legnani danced the central dual role of Odette/Odile, she brought to it the ability to perform 32 fouettes in a row. The public was so impressed that from that production on, any ballerina who danced the role had to perform the 32 fouettes. Legnani's name is still cursed by ballerinas the world over.
A fouette is a fast whipping turn on one foot. As you can appreciate it, it's very difficult to stay in place while doing this. But ballerinas don't just hate the 32 fouettes because they're technically demanding. They also resent them because they are, in essence, "a circus piece " In other words, they're strictly for effect; movements with no psychological motivation behind them. And for a ballet like Swan Lake to be a fulfilling experience, the movements have to reveal character; they have to have reason. "
It's true essence:
"Swan Lake remains a favorite among dancers, no doubt because it is one of the few classical ballets that is as consistently challenging technically as it is emotionally.
In a successful production of Swan Lake, there should be no visible distinction between dancing and acting ; the challenges are realized hand in hand. It is this that makes Swan Lake the most impressive, moving, and most enduring of the classic ballets. "
What can I say? Swan Lake is THE ballet that has to be watched in a lifetime.
Oyasumi....